Tainted Water
by torpedo
Summary: When Radiant Garden lost its name, its sacred water, though it had no power to stop the darkness, formed itself into a barrier, that the darkness would not spread, and waited the rearrival of its keeper, she who would purify its now tainted stream.


Tainted Water

Fandom: Kingdom Hearts 2  
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts does not belong to me. No profit is being made from fanfic.  
Summary: When Radiant Garden lost its name, its sacred water, though it had no power to stop the darkness, formed itself into a barrier, that the darkness would not spread, and waited the re-arrival of its keeper, she who would purify its now tainted stream.  
Notes: Partly inspired by this quote from femmeturk's "How She Lost Her Fear": "...a world now so tainted that water flowed upwards to escape it."  
I have very little idea how to write Merlin, as he has few parts in KH and I've not watched the movie he was in.

* * *

When Aerith arrived back in Hollow Bastion, she fainted. Leon caught her and yelled for Merlin, who had insisted on traveling back with them in the airship. 

After Merlin, who was the closest thing they had to a doctor, had examined her and had puzzledly found that nothing was wrong, Aerith woke up.

She chased down Leon and Yuffie, and insisted that she go with them to see Sora. Merlin had come up to fortify that Aerith was indeed well enough and would not need to be confined to a bed, and Leon had reluctantly offered no resistance.

Aerith went and explained to Sora everything that needed to be explained as best as she could, all the while feeling a sickly sort of feeling, all through her body. It had not been serious enough to warrant a relapse, nor did Sora notice, despite Leon's and Yuffie's furtive, worried glances.

Soon after Sora left for the End of the World, Aerith had coalesced with the others in the Library, where a bashful Cloud had been dragged in by an ecstatic Cid.

She had smiled, remembering—and then had fainted again. This time Cloud caught her, and Merlin came running up, already suspicious of the wavering state she'd been in since the Princesses—all seven of them—had disappeared.

"It's quite curious. I can find nothing outwardly _wrong _, yet it is an indisputable fact that she is _ill. _"

"We _know _that, Merlin. Is it because we've been away for so long? Are the—"

"She's waking up."

Aerith opened her eyes to bright sunlight shining on her face, shadowed by the ominous and all-too serious face of a friend she'd not seen for nine years and with whom she'd just been reunited. Leon, Yuffie, Cid and Merlin hurried to her side as Cloud helped her sit up.

"I'm fine," Aerith said hastily, to forestall any arguments. She swung her feet over the side of the bed, and, despite their protests, got up, and headed for the door.

"Aerith—" Cloud said hesitantly, hand lingering on her elbow where he'd caught her, when she'd stumbled and almost fallen.

She gave him a brief smile and kept going, firmly opening the door and exiting the room with no hesitation.

Leon and Yuffie looked at each other and hurried after her. After a moment's deliberation, Cloud followed.

"Hmm." Merlin mused, looking at the door Cloud had forgotten to shut behind him, "Quite curious."

Cid glanced sideways at the eccentric old magician. "Anything I should be worried about?"

"They'll holler if they need you," was Merlin's scant reply.

At first, it seemed to the pursuing trio that Aerith was simply leaving the castle. But Aerith soon veered away and they realized she was headed to the water that surrounded it, its once steady stream now erratic, and quite dangerous. It could fall on their unsuspecting heads any minute.

"Aerith—" Leon started forward, but was held back by Cloud. The enigmatic man was watching Aerith with a peculiar look on his face. If he squinted, he could see an energy around her, swirling and soothing. He almost thought he could remember it, deep in the depths of memories he had once thought he'd lost.

Leon glanced at Cloud's face and thought he remembered that look. He'd had some semblance of it as a child, when the small, fierce boy had defended Aerith's little oddities, and afterwards made sure she had allowance to do them, with no interruption or jeers from the other children.

Yuffie remembered that most of them had involved water in some sort or form. She herself had been observing Aerith stare at the water before Cid had come running and snatched them both up, throwing them into the Airship as he noticed Leon and threw him in, too.

The three of them watched as Aerith approached the rising waterfall where the water was thickest, reaching her hands out.

The water felt terrible. It was unnaturally warm and thick, saturated with the darkness it had absorbed from the terrible machinations of those who'd rip apart the fabric of all worlds.

"Thank you," she whispered, and knelt, closing her eyes. She felt the flow was clotted and choked. With effort, she began to separate and pull away the darkness, to convince the water that it did not need to protect Hollow Bastion any longer. The witch was gone, the castle empty again.

For the next few hours, Cloud , Leon , and Yuffie watched as the water stopped rising, and flowed around Aerith, the spray getting her all wet. Streams of it played with her hair and loosened her braid; coils of it went around her shoulders and back away to the mass in her hands. Miniature waterspouts swirled around her in a frenzied dance before they, too, flowed back toward her hands. Through it all, Aerith didn't move, breathing more evenly and easily as the water returned to its natural state.

Finally, all the water that had surrounded the castle rose in front of Aerith in a single, undulating column. Aerith opened her eyes and slowly stood up, heedless of the pain at her knees.

She breathed. This would be the hard part. Slowly, she released the water from the column, to let it flow back towards the rivers, streams, and fountains from which they'd come. The water guided her and helped her, but its own weight pressed downwards, and, pressed into such a tight, single mass, couldn't raise themselves. Aerith closed her eyes again and let coils go where they indicated, dropping them into their paths and holding onto them for only a moment before their momentum carried them back home.

Cloud ran forward and caught her as she fell. The last of the droplets brushed lovingly against her cheek before they, too, were gone.

"You're all wet," Cloud said softly, unclipping his cloak and wrapping it around her shivering body.

She smiled at him as Leon and Yuffie came up. "I'll be fine."


End file.
